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Tech Industry Assails Trump Immigration Policy

President Trump speaks on immigration issues while meeting with members of the U.S. Congress in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

Win McNamee/Getty Staff

Some of the biggest names in the tech sector are sounding off against the Trump administration’s forced-separation border policy.

Gary Shapiro, who represents more than 2,200 companies as head of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), said: “Forcibly separating children and babies from their parents as a way to enforce policy is not who we are as a nation. Our government should act now to prevent and stop these traumatic family separations.”

Shapiro also urged Congress to set aside politics to provide a permanent solution to DACA and allow for skills-based immigration.

In a tweet, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, “The stories and images of families being separated at the border are gut-wrenching. Urging our government to work together to find a better, more humane way that is reflective of our values as a nation.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook echoed Pichai in an interview with The Irish Times. “It’s heartbreaking to see the images and hear the sounds of the kids,” he said. “Kids are the most vulnerable people in any society. I think that what’s happening is inhumane, it needs to stop.”

Microsoft, which has been criticized by employees for its $19 million contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), denied in a corporate blog that its Azure Cloud-computing services are being used to separate children from their families, and said it was “dismayed” by the actions along the border.

“We urge the administration to change its policy and Congress to pass legislation ensuring children are no longer separated from their families,” the tech giant said.